Want to make movies and short films? Acclaimed director Shane Meadows
shares his advice for how to get started

Shane Meadows is a self-taught British filmmaker, responsible for such visceral dramas as This Is England, Dead Man’s Shoes and A Room For Romeo Brass, along with the recent Stone Roses biopic, Made Of Stone. Having left school with no qualifications, he turned to a life of petty crime before picking up a video camera in his early twenties. Since then, he has made over 80 short films, and has established himself as one of the most important figures in British cinema.

I never wanted to be a director, I’ve just always been a storyteller. When we’d hang out at the bus shelter as kids, it tended to be me who would relay all the stories. I thought I wanted to be an actor – my main ambition was to be shot by an arrow in a cowboy film and hang off the horse with an arrow in my side. Apparently, when I first started drama college with Paddy Considine, he overheard me asking how much weathermen got paid. I think there was this chancer in me that had no actual passion, but who was after an easy gig where I could stick plastic suns on a map and be given a hundred grand.

It wasn’t until I made my first short film that I thought, "Jesus, I can actually do this". It came reasonably naturally and it was one of those freaky things where it might never have happened. I might still be going around nicking things had I not got access to that first camera. I don’t quite know how I ended up doing it, it certainly wasn’t a dream that I had as a boy.

Accept that your first film will probably be rubbish

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A lot of people put so much weight into their first short, thinking it has to be perfect. But the thing that was really great for me was that against all the rejections and lack of financial support in the early days, I made a film a month, by hook or by crook. Some of them were appalling, some funny, and then one of them was Where’s the Money, Ronnie? [1996], which really shone out.

Most people don’t make 10 or 12 short films in their entire life, and I’d made that many in my first year, along with a lot of mistakes in a free, liberating environment where it didn’t matter what I did. I still show people those films; you can see the weaknesses but you can also see me developing as a filmmaker. So I would say the key, especially early on, is not worrying about trying to make something perfect. Just experiment, keep making stuff and get your mistakes out of the way.

Draw from your own life, even if it is a bit dull

You might think you have had a bland, boring life, but ultimately to be a good story teller there has to be a certain charm to you. A great comedian can make something completely mundane hilarious to listen to; it’s all in the delivery.

It’s about putting some of yourself into it. Whether you’re working class, middle class or the son of the Queen, we all have people in our lives and access to things that no one has ever seen, and that’s what makes you individual. So by focusing on the stories of small time crooks and petty crime in the early years, I put a part of myself into my films.

Worry less about the kit and more about the story

Content is everything. In the early days I made Where’s the Money, Ronnie? for a few hundred quid on a Hi8 camera and it went up against a short film that had been shot on 35mm with £150,000 budget [in a competition]. Where’s The Money, Ronnie? won. It felt like David and Goliath, but ultimately what mattered was that people found something in the story, even if it maybe didn’t look as pretty.

But there’s not really that same excuse any more. It’s about 150 times easier to get access to decent kit now – most schools have the fundamental equipment for a kid to make a feature film. Now people are telling the stories they want to tell, like I would’ve been 20 years ago, but their films look pretty good too, whereas most of my early stuff looked pretty cack.

But at the same time, a camera phone could work for the right kind of project. Obviously you wouldn’t shoot a Victorian melodrama on your smartphone, but I’ve thought about shooting a feature film – maybe something rough and ready set across 24 hours of someone’s life – on my iPhone.

It’s a competitive market, but good work gets noticed

The best content will always float to the top. It’s one of those situations where you can publish yourself all over the world from your front room, but then the difficult part comes in that there’s another billion people trying the same thing, so it’s how you get noticed. And the truth is, because there’s so much s--- out there, people will spot good work, short films and voices. The world is watching and waiting for good stuff to land, and I believe that if it’s good enough it will inevitably get there.

Embrace education, it’s like a hospital without the pain

I loved the warm bosom of academia, you’ve kind of got an arm around you and I think that’s fantastic. But college isn’t about the bricks and mortar, it’s about the people you meet. Although I kept leaving and doing this that and the other, I did meet some incredible lecturers that really inspired me and helped make the transition from working class thug into what I am today.

But education isn’t essential if it’s not your bag. I never got any filmmaking qualifications and yet I dabbled in and out of college for years. Ultimately, if I could just be at college for the rest of my life, I’d do it. It’s like a hospital without the pain – you’re just being cared for.

Shane Meadows was speaking to Sam Rowe

Shane Meadows is lead judge for the Virgin Media Shorts 2013. Winners will be announced on November 7th at the BFI IMAX, for more details, visit: virginmediashorts.co.uk